A crime is like a crack in reality, and it is the author's role to explore those cracks. As a writer, I like to see how they impinge on people.
For a girl, appearance can be a powerful form of oppression. No matter how intelligent a girl may be, no matter her many talents, these attributes are not easily discerned. Brains and talent will never stand up against a girl who is clearly physically attractive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights how societal standards of beauty can overshadow a girl's intelligence and talents.
Natsuo Kirino emphasizes the oppressive nature of societal expectations regarding a girl's appearance. Despite the intelligence and talents a girl may possess, these qualities often take a back seat to physical attractiveness, which can lead to discrimination and diminish the value of a girl's true abilities in various contexts. This dynamic creates an environment where superficial judgments hinder personal and professional recognition.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about beauty standards in society, this quote could be used to highlight the impact of looks on women's opportunities.
More from Natsuo Kirino
All quotes →It wasn't so much that I was afraid of the place itself, but I was afraid of the creatures who masqueraded as people.
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If husbands could realize what large returns of profit may be gotten out of a wife by a small word of praise paid over the counter when the market is just right, they would bring matters around the way they wish them much oftener than they usually do. Arguments are unsafe with wives, because they examine them; but they do not examine compliments. One can pass upon a wife a compliment that is three-fourths base
And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?
While the primary function of formal Buddhist meditation is to create the possibility of the experience of "being," my work as a therapist has shown me that the demands of intimate life can be just as useful as meditation in moving people toward this capacity. Just as in formal meditation, intimate relationships teach us that the more we relate to each other as objects, the greater our disappointment. The trick, as in meditation, is to use this disappointment to change the way we relate.
What is faithfulness, anyway? Can you be unfaithful to your own feelings and faithful to someone else? Is it faithful to lie in bed night after night with someone you love but no longer desire while ardently dreaming of someone else?
No journalist has ever been in my house and no photographs have ever been taken of where I live. I don't parade my family out for display, which is the way it will stay.